Al Jazira Cheick-ing out Newcastle midfielder Tiote
PRIDE OF ABU DHABI EYEING FIRST OVERSEAS SIGNING OF THE SUMMER
l Jazira’s bid to reestablish themselves among the Arabian Gulf League’s elite has gathered pace with the news that they are in advanced talks to sign the Newcastle United midfielder Cheick Tiote.
The Ivory Coast midfielder is keen on a move to the UAE and Al Jazira just need to agree a fee in the region of £4 million (Dh19.3 million) with the English Championship outfit, according to British media reports.
Sky Sports HQ said the Pride of Abu Dhabi have already tabled an offer for the 30-yearold, who has a year left on his contract.
Tiote, who has represented his country 52 times and Newcastle 153 since joining the Toon in 2010 from the Dutch side FC Twente, was left out of Newcastle’s squad for their preseason friendly at Southend on Tuesday.
Asked about Tiote’s future after his side’s 2-0 victory, Newcastle manager Rafa Benitez said: “We have some players that are in the market because the clubs are asking for them, but we have to wait and see if we receive the right offers for the right players.”
Tiote’s potential arrival at Al Jazira would galvanise the club’s summer rebuild aimed at restoring the club into a force to be reckoned with in the UAE.
Henk ten Cate’s men finished a dismal seventh in the AGL last season — they were runnersup the year before — although they did claim the President’s Cup at the end of May.
Now they are feverishly attempting to bolster their overseas ranks after earlier this week putting their Brazilian playmaker Thiago Neves, Peruvian winger Jefferson Farfan and Spanish midfielder Lafita up for sale.
The club have already retained the former Juventus striker Mirko Vucinic and South Korean midfielder Park Jongwoo and have also been in talks to sign the Morocco left-winger Mubarak Boussoufa, as Gulf News revealed last week.
The 31-year-old is contracted to Russia’s Lokomotiv Moscow, but spent the latter part of last season on loan at Ghent.
Diaky move firming up
Angel
The Amsterdam-born Boussoufa started his career at the Belgian club in 2004 and has scored six times in 40 appearances for Morocco.
According to an source last week, Al Jazira Boussoufa could pen a two-year deal with the Pride of Abu Dhabi and join their pre-season tour of the Netherlands and Germany.
The Pride of Abu Dhabi are also set to complete moves for Al Ain’s veteran midfielder Ebrahim Diaky, who spent eight years at Al Jazira before leaving in 2013, and right-back Mohammad Fawzi.
Meanwhile, the UAE national team will play the second friendly of their Spanish training camp against La Liga outfit Las Palmas on Thursday.
Mahdi Ali’s men, who are preparing for the final round of 2018 World Cup qualifiers which kick off on September 1 away to Japan, drew 1-1 with Spanish third-tier side Cartagena earlier this week.